


Lethal Attraction

by MandoKain



Series: Aliit [12]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: F/M, Feel-good, Flirting, Post-Order 66, Pre-Star Wars: Rebels, Years Later, clone bros, everyone loves a hot lady with a knife, this is a twi'lek appreciation household
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-27
Updated: 2019-09-27
Packaged: 2020-10-29 10:20:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,490
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20795060
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MandoKain/pseuds/MandoKain
Summary: “I didn’t cross an asteroid belt to settle for a solar flare. Into the eye of a supernova did I stare and I was blinded by the blast but I do not care.” from Galactic Love by Jim and the PovolosTakes place some years after 66, in which Bard is everyone, and in this case: Everyone's attracted to hot girls who could kill them. (Bard's brothers are wingmen but not necessarily good ones.)





	Lethal Attraction

He was sitting at a table with Careen and Fives. The three of them were talking and laughing, a set of drinks on the table. It was their first vacation in a while, and they felt they’d earned it. All three of the kids on the Heartstar were old enough now to be left together with a babysitter, so Aliit Toqema, along with many of the others in the New Dawn fleet, had picked up the pace of attacks on Imperial targets. For the most part, their attacks were small, but they were a lot of work, and when it had finally been agreed to take a break, everyone was thankful. It was nice, Bard thought, to have a chance to be out with his brothers relaxing, having a few drinks in this little out of the way spot. Tonight was a good night.

At one point, Fives nudged him.

“What?” Bard raised an eyebrow, fiddling with a toothpick that had been stuck in the fruit in his drink.

“There’s a pink Twi over there who’s been eyein’ you,” Fives told him, giving a slight nod. “Betcha she comes over to chat here pretty soon.”

“Get off it,” Bard snorted. “You’re pulling my leg, di’kut.”

“No, ‘m serious!” Fives protested.

“Don’t look now, but she’s coming this way,” Careen muttered into his glass. Bard straightened. The pink Twi’lek took a seat in the empty chair at their table by grabbing the back, spinning it around, and sitting on the chair backwards. She folded her arms over the back of it and rested her chin on top of them with a grin. Bard’s heart skipped a beat. She was stunning. And adorable. _Wow_.

“Been a long time since I’ve seen faces like yours.” Her Ryl accent flowed like a cup of sweet, rich caf, lighter than someone who lived on planet, but still distinct.

“That a good thing or a bad thing, sir?” Careen inquired. She laughed.

“Not sure yet. Wasn’t on planet for the Republic occupation, any more than I was for the Seps. But those clones I met, I liked.”

“Hopefully you like us well enough,” Fives grinned. “I’m Fives. This is Careen, and that’s Bard.”

“Nice to meet you, sir.”

“And you. I’m Sarya,” she smiled. She looked over at Bard, smile crooking to one side. “Blue tattoos? Bit unorthodox, I thought most were like Careen’s, there.” She nodded to Careen’s swirling black facial tattoos, before turning back to Bard. She reached out and, after he gave a curious nod, placed her fingertips on his jaw and turned his head slightly. “And the bit of blue hair, too, I notice. What’s that for?”

“Clan markings,” Bard explained, having managed to somehow wrangle the ability to speak after her warm fingers on his skin. “Family thing.” The pilot’s blue was fairly obvious, taking up the entirety of the short mohawk on top of his head. Fives’ blue was done as artful highlights. Bard’s was just a small section near the back of his hair. Sarya nodded, gesturing for him to continue.

“We were all brought together as a family by a green Twi’lek with blue lekku markings, our younger sibling,” Bard explained. “We know that markings like that can be used to show family ties, like how some clone squads would do their armor all on color, or get matching symbols or tattoos. One of our brothers had the idea to dye bits of our hair in the same blue as their markings, as the same sort of demonstration of allegiance and family.”

“Oh, that’s actually really sweet.” Sarya gave him a soft smile. “What did your Twi’lek sibling say?”

“They loved it, actually. We surprised them with it, and they got very emotional.” Bard smiled fondly at the memory.

“They’re the best,” Fives told her. Careen nodded in agreement.

“They sound lucky to have a family as dedicated as you, then.” Sarya smiled. “How long have you all been a family?”

“Nearly ten years now?” Fives shrugged. “Bard was one of the first, he’s known Cain longest of all of us here.”

“Not by that much, a few months at most,” Bard protested. To Sarya, he said, “we all came together within the last year of the war, from various fates and locations.”

“What do you mean, various fates?”

Bard smirked slightly. “That one left,” he said, nodding to Fives. “That one was assumed KIA and then never went back. And me,” he shrugged, “I was in the process of being sent back to Kamino along with the rest of my batch for being a little too inclined to fight with my general and not follow orders. If someone wants something from me, they’ve gotta earn it. He hadn’t.”

Sarya smiled broadly, eyes sparkling. “You’ve got my respect for that.” She’d moved over towards Bard a little more. Fives flicked a glance at him that clearly said, ‘told you.’ Bard refrained, through great effort, from flipping him off. Careen just looked smug.

Sarya turned out to have nearly as many stories as the three clones did. Her fiery spirit meant her stories had as much spirit as theirs did, and her laugh was as bright and full. Sarya easily kept pace with the three of them in the drinking, too. She was no bad fighter, and had done plenty of travelling in her time (she didn’t give a lot of details on the nature of the traveling, however). The twinkle in her eye made Bard laugh, and every time he laughed, she grinned. She was very excited to learn that Bard played the bes’bev, as she herself was an artist. She refused to sing, though, unless Bard was willing to play for her, and he wasn’t about to in the middle of a bar, which they all found fair.

“Maybe another time when we’re somewhere less crowded,” Bard suggested.

“I’d be more than okay with that,” Sarya hummed, leaning into him a moment before straightening. Bard hoped the way his heart leapt didn’t show. According to Careen’s expression, he was less than successful. A blush crept up his face and over his cheeks, and Bard drained his glass. Sarya stood.

“Can I show you something?”

“Of course.” Bard raised an eyebrow at her, and she gave him a wry smile that set his heart to thumping in his chest. Her eyes fluttered as they met the challenge, a fathomless nebula of violet that he would happily fall into.

“Put your hand out on the table,” she instructed, moving behind him and leaning over. “Your left one.” He set it out as she instructed, and she set hers on top of it. She splayed his fingers out carefully, leaning down near his ear. Fives had an amused and intrigued expression. Careen looked slightly confused.

“Ready?” Sarya asked.

“What should I be ready for?” Bard replied, teasing. Sarya’s laugh was warm so close to his ear, but he shivered nonetheless.

“Just be ready.”

“All right. I’m ready,” he murmured, watching her hand over his. It felt like his insides were vibrating. Sarya straightened slightly. Then there was a knife in her right hand, and it was darting in a blur between his fingers. Bard could hear each thud of the knife more clearly than he could see the actual blade moving, but it was both rhythmic and incredibly fast. With a particularly loud thunk, the knife—his knife, he realised suddenly, the one that should have been in the little sheath on his right hip—buried itself in the wooden table, right between his middle and ring fingers, less than a centimeter from the connecting tissue. The table was dead silent for a moment, and then Bard gave a very faint, high pitched whimper of near terror. His eyes didn’t leave that spot. Sarya stood properly, giving a soft hum.

“You get it, yeah?” He nodded. “Good. I’ll be right back, I’ll get us more drinks, yeah?” She brushed his cheek lightly with the backs of her fingers before she walked away towards the bar.

Bard was still staring knife, which stood, still quivering, in the tabletop. She’d been so fast the knife and her hand were a blur. Her precision was absolutely incredible. Not only had she gotten the movements exactly right without missing a step, she’d hit nearly the same place between his fingers every time. He reached over with an artificially steady hand and carefully worked the knife free from the table. He held it up, staring at it.

Fives looked between Bard, and the knife, and back again. He said, “you’re kriffed, mate,” at the same time Bard said,

“I think I’m in love.”

“She is, without a doubt, one hundred percent lethal.”

“She’s _amazing_.” Bard looked up at Fives with stars in his eyes. Careen recognised that expression from Xhona’s face, many years ago, and he grinned from ear to ear.

“Yeah, you’re completely kriffed.”

**Author's Note:**

> Spoiler alert: These two eventually get married and are adorably domestic. Their eldest is about ten years younger than Cain's eldest. Sarya is an artist and does music, painting, and carved sculpture, but she's also more than adept with those knives in a more martial capacity (as a lone female Twi'lek travelling the galaxy, she kind of has to be). Eventually she teaches the kids, too, which her husband isn't sure worries him or not.


End file.
